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When God Goes, Anything Goes
December 1, 2008
G. K. Chesterton once said, “When people stop believing in God, they don’t believe in nothing — they believe in anything.” That seems to be backed up by two recent stories. Live Science reported on a poll by a British newspaper that found more people believe in aliens and ghosts than believe in […]
Go to the Ant, Thou Farmer
November 30, 2008
We humans boast too much. Agribusiness? Ants have it down to a science. “One of the most important developments in human civilisation was the practice of sustainable agriculture,” stated Science Daily. “But we were not the first – ants have been doing it for over 50 million years. Just as farming helped humans become a […]
An Evolutionary Fly in the Turtle Soup
November 29, 2008
A new fossil turtle was found. Is it a missing link? That depends on whether you believe the popular press or the scientists. National Geographic News and Science Daily both led off with the missing link angle, complete with an artist reconstruction of the fossil turtle found in China named Odontochelys. “Since the […]
Knowledge of Light Is Power
November 28, 2008
Now that engineers are becoming adept at manipulating materials at the scale of billionths of a meter, they are taking first steps toward using a power source familiar to plants: light. Science Daily described the first humble attempts to get light photons to drive nano-sized machines. The article did not mention whether photosynthesis […]
It Takes a Stellar Village
November 27, 2008
Do galaxies embark on a purpose-driven life? The language in an article about galaxy evolution in Science Daily makes such seamless use of personal terms with natural processes, it’s hard to know where the data ends and the interpretation begins. “Galaxy Zoo, which uses volunteers from the general public to classify galaxies, and […]
How Floppy Feet Produced Marathoners
November 26, 2008
A picture of a muscle-bound furry gibbon adorns a story on Science Daily that claims, “Floppy-footed Gibbons Help Us Understand How Early Humans May Have Walked.” The story describes how two European researchers photographed the footwork of wild gibbons to find connections to human evolution. It turned out that gibbon footfalls are very different from […]
Far-Out Science
November 25, 2008
The following list of bizarre stories coming from science news outlets is jarring on two fronts: it shows how little scientists understand, and calls into question what counts as science these days. Some stories illustrate one or the other; some both. Roar of the aurora aura: Both Saturn and Mars turned up auroras that are […]
Raise Money by Accomplishing Nothing
November 24, 2008
Frank Drake is being honored on Space.com by the SETI Institute as the “Father of SETI,” His reputation is providing an opportunity for a fund raiser. For a lot of money, you can spend time with a celebrity whose accomplishments are questionable. It’s not often you get the opportunity to hang out with a legend! […]
Nature Cannot Wait for Darwin Day
November 23, 2008
Darwin Day (Feb. 12, 2009) is months away, but Nature devoted a special issue to it this week. The cover story, Darwin 200, includes 15 articles and features, some of which are available to the public. Features include a list of celebrations and exhibitions around the world, including a re-enactment of Darwin’s voyage on a […]
Turtle Vaults Over 65 Million Year Evolutionary Hurdle
November 22, 2008
The Scots are bragging about their latest missing link – a swimming turtle. The BBC News could hardly contain the excitement over this claim to evolutionary fame: “The new species forms a missing link between ancient terrestrial turtles and their modern, aquatic descendants,” the article said. But along with celebration, there were admissions of ignorance: […]
Selfishness and Responsibility Are Just a Game
November 22, 2008
It’s become increasingly common for evolutionists to explain human behavior in terms of games. Another entry in this genre was published by Science Daily, which began, “‘Game theory’ is used to predict the behaviour of individuals when making choices that depend on the choices of others. First developed as a tool for understanding economic behaviour, […]
Is Darwinian Environmentalism an Oxymoron?
November 21, 2008
There’s something magnetic about letters to the editor. We feel attracted to the responses of readers to what magazines print – especially when a mini-debate takes place and the author of an article replies. In PNAS this week,1 two scientists aired a friendly squabble about the meaning of “biodiversity” and whether humans should defend it. […]
Unique “Orphan Genes” Are Widespread; Have No Evolutionary Explanation
November 19, 2008
We often hear about the similarities between genomes, but what about the differences? There’s a growing realization that groups of animals have genetic orphans – genes that are unique to that line (see 01/02/2003). These genes have no evolutionary homology or kinship to genes from other lineages. How did they arise? And what do they […]
Proteins Can Tie Knots
November 18, 2008
Your job today is to invent a chain that can tie itself in a knot. The chain can contain little magnets and electrical parts, but when you let go of the ends, a knot will spontaneously form. This means that one end must form a loop and the other end must thread the loop. Give […]
Desperately Fleeing God in Cosmology
November 17, 2008
Does the fine-tuning of the universe require belief in God? Or will multiverse theory allow for a self-perpetuating, eternal, godless cosmos? Tim Folger explored this topic in an interview with Andrei Linde, a cosmologist currently at Stanford, in Discovery Magazine. The opening line sums up the controversy: “Our universe is perfectly tailored for life. That […]
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